Manchester selective licensing: which streets need a licence, what it costs and how to apply

If you let a terrace in Longsight, Harpurhey or Moss Side, the question "do I need a Manchester selective licence?" has a frustratingly precise answer: it depends on your exact street, and sometimes on which side of it your house sits. Manchester City Council does not designate whole wards. It designates small pockets — a handful of streets and postcodes at a time — which is why two landlords in the same ward can get opposite answers and both be right.

TL;DR

Manchester City Council currently operates selective licensing in small designated areas within parts of Cheetham, Clayton and Openshaw, Crumpsall, Gorton and Abbey Hey, Harpurhey, Levenshulme, Longsight, Miles Platting and Newton Heath, Moss Side and Rusholme, listed street by street on the council's current schemes directory. The fee depends on which designation phase your property falls in: the council's published fee table shows a full fee of £798 for the 2022 areas, £936 for the 2023 areas and £964 for the 2025 areas, split into an application fee and a grant fee. Licences are normally granted for five years and the council says applications are processed within six weeks. Letting an unlicensed property in a designated area is an offence under section 95 of the Housing Act 2004, and MHCLG's statutory guidance sets a civil penalty starting point of £12,000 for it, against a maximum of £40,000 for offences committed on or after 1 May 2026. The practical upshot: the licence fee is the cheap part — the expensive mistake is not knowing your street was designated.

Which areas of Manchester need a selective licence?

Manchester has rolled selective licensing out in phases under Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004, each designation lasting five years. The fee you pay and the date your scheme ends both follow from the phase your property sits in. The council's own fee page groups the live areas as follows:

All figures in that table are from Manchester City Council's selective licensing and HMO fees page, which also lists reduced "early bird" fees of £591, £736 and £764 for each phase respectively — those windows applied only during the three-month statutory notification period before each designation came into force, so for every live Manchester scheme they have closed.

The nine areas in the 2025 phase were confirmed after a ten-week consultation run from 13 May to 22 July 2024, as the council set out in its outcome of selective licensing consultation 2024 page.

How much does a Manchester selective licence actually cost per property?

The headline fee is not the whole bill, and the structure matters if you own more than one house in the same pocket. Manchester splits each fee into an application fee, payable with the application, and a grant fee, payable before the licence is issued — non-payment of the grant fee holds the licence up. The same Manchester City Council fee table also shows a lower "subsequent" rate: £694 in the 2022 areas, £828 in 2023 and £864 in 2025.

Take an illustrative Lancashire-style landlord with three terraces on Northmoor Road in Longsight, all let on periodic assured tenancies, applying today. Northmoor Road sits in the 2025 phase, which Manchester City Council's fee page records as running from 24 May 2025 to 23 May 2030 at a full fee of £964 and a subsequent fee of £864 — the early bird window, which ran during the three-month notification period, has gone. At those published rates that is £964 for the first property and, if the subsequent rate applies, £864 each for the other two: roughly £2,692 across three houses for a licence running to 23 May 2030, or about £180 per property per year. Set against the £12,000 civil penalty starting point for an unlicensed selectively licensed property in MHCLG's statutory guidance, the fee is the cheaper half of the decision, even if it still reads as a cash grab when you are the one paying it.

For how these numbers compare with licensing fees elsewhere, and why councils are legally barred from running a surplus on them, see our breakdown of what landlords actually pay for selective licensing.

Does my Manchester property need a selective licence or an HMO licence?

The two regimes do not stack. Manchester's guidance on who selective licensing applies to states that a house in multiple occupation let to five or more occupiers needs a mandatory HMO licence instead, and that a property already holding an HMO licence is exempt from selective licensing. The council also confirms on its HMO licensing page that it does not currently operate an additional HMO licensing scheme — so a three- or four-sharer HMO in Manchester falls outside additional licensing but may still need a selective licence if it is in a designated street.

If you are taking a property out of letting — selling to an owner-occupier, for example — the council can issue a Temporary Exemption Notice, which Manchester City Council states is valid for three months, with extensions only in exceptional circumstances. Our guide to HMO and selective licensing for private landlords covers how the two regimes interact nationally.

What happens if you let an unlicensed property in a designated area?

Letting or managing a property that should be licensed under Part 3 is an offence under section 95 of the Housing Act 2004. The council can prosecute, or impose a civil penalty instead. Two things have changed here that most pages — including some council ones — have not caught up with.

First, the ceiling moved. MHCLG's statutory guidance on civil penalties under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 and other housing legislation confirms that the statutory instrument raising the maximum penalty under section 249A of the Housing Act 2004 from £30,000 to £40,000 came into force on 1 May 2026. Any page still quoting £30,000 as the maximum is describing the pre-May-2026 position.

Second, the same MHCLG guidance sets a national starting point of £12,000 for a property subject to selective licensing being unlicensed, before aggravating and mitigating factors are applied — and councils are expected to publish their own policy for breaches of licence conditions, which the guidance deliberately leaves to local discretion. The guidance also notes that section 104 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 extended liability for unlicensed-property offences to superior landlords, which matters for rent-to-rent arrangements.

In Manchester the licence fee is the cheap part of the decision. The expensive part is not knowing your street was designated.

Rent repayment orders remain available to tenants and to the council where a property should have been licensed — see our rent repayment orders guide. The old consequence of being barred from serving a Section 21 notice while unlicensed no longer reads across directly, because Section 21 went with the Renters' Rights Act commencement on 1 May 2026 and possession now runs through the Section 8 grounds; if you are unlicensed and need possession, that is a point to put to a solicitor rather than work out from a council web page. Our timeline of the Act's key dates sets out what commenced when.

How do you apply for a Manchester selective licence?

1. Check the address against the street list. Open the council's current schemes directory, find the area nearest you and check the road name, number range and postcode. The lists include flats, suffixed and sub-addresses.
2. Rule out HMO licensing first. Five or more occupiers forming two or more households and sharing facilities means a mandatory HMO licence, not a selective one.
3. Get your certificates together. Manchester requires safety certificates — gas and electrical — with the application, so a current CP12 and EICR need to be in hand before you start, not chased mid-application. Have the EPC to hand too; energy ratings feature in the council's licensing work.
4. Complete the four-part online form. Parts one to three cover the applicant and the management arrangements; part four is property information and is completed once for each house or flat you let.
5. Pay in two stages. The application fee goes with the submission; the grant fee is payable before the licence is issued.
6. Diary the dates. The council processes applications within six weeks and warns that you should not assume a licence has been granted if you have not heard. Note your designation end date as well as your licence date.

If the council refuses a licence, grants it with conditions you dispute, or varies or revokes it, there is an appeal to the Residential Property Tribunal, which Manchester City Council says should normally be made within 28 days of the decision. A separate 28-day window applies to appealing a civil penalty final notice to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), and you have 28 days to make written representations after a notice of intent, under MHCLG's statutory guidance on civil penalties.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if my Manchester property is in a selective licensing area?

Use Manchester City Council's current selective licensing schemes directory, which lists each designated area with its road names, house number ranges and postcodes. The council also publishes a Selective Housing Register so tenants and landlords can check whether a specific address is licensed.

How long does a Manchester selective licence last?

Manchester City Council states that selective licences are usually issued for five years, though a shorter licence can be granted where there are concerns about management arrangements. The underlying designation also has a fixed five-year life — the council's fee and designation page records the 2025 phase as running from 24 May 2025 to 23 May 2030.

Is there a discount for applying early in Manchester?

Yes, but only during the three-month statutory notification period before a designation comes into force. Manchester City Council's fee page records that window for the 2025 phase as 24 February to 23 May 2025, with an early bird total of £764 against the full fee of £964. All of Manchester's live schemes are now past their early bird windows.

What is the penalty for not licensing a property in Manchester?

Letting an unlicensed property in a designated area is an offence under section 95 of the Housing Act 2004. The council can prosecute or impose a civil penalty; MHCLG's statutory guidance sets a £12,000 starting point for this offence, with a statutory maximum of £40,000 for offences committed on or after 1 May 2026.

Do I need a selective licence if I rent to a family member?

Some lettings are exempt, and HMOs already licensed under the mandatory scheme are exempt from selective licensing under the council's published exemptions. Exemptions turn on the precise facts, so check that list and, where it is borderline, apply anyway — the council's own advice is that you should apply if you are unsure.

Keeping a Manchester licence and a designation date in the same place

The real risk in Manchester is not the fee — it is the diary. A selective licence, a designation end date, a CP12, an EICR and an EPC all expire on different schedules, and the 2022 designations reach their 30 April 2027 end date while most landlords are still thinking about this year's gas safety check. LandlordReady keeps a landlord's legal obligations and deadlines — gas safety, EPC, deposit protection and the Renters' Rights Act requirements — in one place, so the certificates your licence application depends on are current when the council asks for them.